Who’s Fault?

 Who's fault that some artists can't make a living?  I know a lot of artists who automatically go to the old standard reasons. The economy is poor. Young people don't buy art. People only want famous artists' works. There is little art education in schools anymore. Everything is digital now. If you don't paint abstracts, no one will buy your art. There are really hundreds of reasons why artists have a hard time making a living.

 I am the first to admit that selling art is a difficult task. I've been in the art business all of my life. I do think it is far too easy to self pity and say it can't be done. Making a living as an artist is daunting, but it can be and is a viable way to make a living. Attitude and willingness to succeed are everything. This goes for any occupation.

 I don't spend my time worrying about any of the reasons that art doesn't sell. That is a complete waste of my time and resources. I do instead, spend a heck of a lot of time thinking about what I can do to sell enough art to pay my bills and buy art materials. My goal is not to become wealthy, though that would be lovely. My goal is not to be famous. There are obligations attached to that that I am not willing to carry out. My goal is to continue being an independent self sustaining artist, paying my own way through what is left of my time on this good earth. A simple, doable goal.

 I never for a moment think that I can't succeed. That is out of the question. I will not fail. I work very hard. I depend on others to aid me. My followers on social media are my referral team. I know they will help me and I will help them. I know my collectors want me to be successful, and they help me with referrals. I know that my work is of a subject that appeals to niche collectors. I don't try to appeal to every market. I don't try to be trendy. I don't switch my painting subjects and styles to fit the latest trends. I don't try to fit in to art societies, or groups any more. That is ego driven. I go my own way, secure in that my efforts are truly genuine.

 There is no blame for lack of success, only props that give you excuses to fail! Don’t play the blame game as an artist. Don’t go pro if you are not willing to work very hard. Enjoy a happy and fulfilling hobby instead. 

 Life is wonderful for country painters.......,

Sharing Our Thoughts

 I saw a post about a woman who wrote her thoughts just before her passing. It made me think of all the questions I should have asked my parents when they were still with me. 

 Artists have a specialized skill, as do other career professionals. I have been a blogger/group writer for long years. These blog/group postings are my professional career journal. I wonder at all of the information I and other artists have missed through the years that artists could have written and shared with artists coming behind them? It is not necessary to be an expert writer. 

 What could I have learned from Daniel Green’s musings? Anders Zorn, John Singer Sargent? There are hundreds of other artists, some nearly unknown in the art world who had important words to share. 

 I know some artists like to be mysterious, who don’t like to share information. Perhaps they are afraid to be copied or out done by someone who might have more talent. I never worry about that. In fact, if I help someone to become a master painter, I will have done my job as a mere student of painting myself.

 

Sharing is caring for country painters…….

 Value of Art

 

I've been thinking a lot about value of art. So many unfortunate people don't seem to relate to art as having value. What they don't realize is that art relates to every part of their lives. Industrial design makes the furniture they use, and the tools they pick up every day.

 

Artists are the historians of our culture. We record our time on this planet and interpret our culture's style, tools, and politics, along with the beauty we see. I decided to put into words what I think the value of my art is for my time on this planet. 

 

What is the real value of owning original art?

 

Most of my collectors are not wealthy. They don’t buy art as a speculative investment. Many of the best treasures have true emotional value. My collectors tell me that my paintings speak to them as memories of places and times they have experienced as destinations throughout their lives.

They want to be closer to the natural world. They enjoy the birds, flowers and trees I paint. My paintings take them out of their busy lives, if for only a moment at a time. They are concerned about our environment and long to savor a moment outside of their office, out in the wild spaces where I roam. Through my paintings and stories, they join me.

 

Owning an original painting means owning the only one in the world. I don’t sell copies or reproductions of my work. There is a magic to possessing the only painting like it.  There are many reasons to own original art.

 

Think about starting your collection or giving art to those you love. Start small. Tiny and small paintings are less expensive and still bring joy.  If you already have a large collection, think about gifting art to others who will have the same joy in ownership that you feel with each of your paintings. Paintings last your lifetime and for future generations to enjoy.

 

Artists have a marvelous friendship with their collectors. My collectors mean everything to me. They are my friends, supporters and part of my every day life. Our relationship goes far beyond an exchange of art for income. We develop friendships through mutual interests and deep respect for each other and our families. We don't concern ourselves with hateful political rhetoric or taking sides. Our relationship builds community and all of the positive aspects of our lives. 

 

Artists have a truly wonderful life......

The Flower Studies

 My canvases arrived and I am three paintings in to the flower studies planned. Unfortunately I broke one of the canvases, the stretcher bars. I am going to try to repair it, but I set it aside for now.

 

The great thing I love most about studies is that they seem to wander where they want to. I am not restricted to advancing them into refinement. I don’t have to do anything other than explore. Fast and loose is they way of studies. 

One of the purposes of this particular group is exploration of how positive and negative spaces work out in a square format. The other is a play, between vibrancy of the flowers next to neutrality of the negative space, and neutrality of the flowers, next to vibrancy of the negative space.  It is also a lot of fun playing around with shapes, building some up and flattening out others, simplifying.

 

Life is swell for country painters…..

Series

 I love to do series of paintings. Sometimes the series is based on a subject, sometimes based on a particular palette I want to test for its limits. Sometimes I work intermittently on long term series. I have been working on a series called Night Palms for many years. I might do two or three of the theme a year.

 

Recently I completed a fruit tree series. The first one sold a week ago to a tea party visitor to my studio. 

I am waiting for a group of 12 new 12x12 deep gallery wrap canvases to be delivered for my next series. It is going to be a study series for florals. I want to explore a more primitive, semi abstract exploration of some of my favorite flowers. Getting back to design elements for these studies. 

 

I often do series of paintings during the summer months when Florida slows down for artists. It is so hot here that not much goes on socially between June and October. It is a fine time to explore the art of a series.

 

Life is swell for country painters....... 

Florida Greens

 Painting Florida greens is a true challenge for beginning painters. Florida has every green imaginable. In Spring and Summer they can be overwhelming. The biggest mistake I see for painters is an attempt to match the saturation painters see in the landscape on their canvas. Over saturation is a huge problem. 

 

What you see in the landscape rarely translates well to a painting.  On canvas, these over saturated green look fake and ill conceived. Intensity is pleasing in small doses, but overdone not good. If you want color to stand out, subdue the area around it. Pouring more color on doesn’t work well.

 

My example is the posted painting. I had been looking at this magnificent Flame tree for long years. I noticed that many of the painters who love this subject handled their painting with high saturation of not only the tree, but of all the greens and landscape surrounding the tree. I did not care for that approach. To me the painting screamed to me as the viewer. 

 

I was keenly aware of this when I decided to do this painting. I purposefully subdued the greens and Palms around the flame tree so the tree would be the star. Nothing should compete with a tree like this. It is truly the ⭐️. Everything else is simply a support for it. It turned out to be one of my favorite paintings. I still have it. These trees don’t grow where I live, and many people are not familiar with it.

 

One easy way to subdue greens is by adding a tad of cadmium orange or red to the mixture.

 

Country painters love painting greens.... 

Grace

 Grace is something we sorely need this year.  More and more, competitiveness has become the norm. I am appalled to see most of reality TV is about competition, even with young kid shows.  Winning or losing is all important now.

I believe we need to consider that being gracious winners or losers is more important than the prize. Perhaps we have forgotten that all of us win and lose regularly in life, from small irritations and victories to large and important. 

Most of our differences can be ignored. We all want our families to thrive. We all want respect and dignity. We can start with that without the anger and resentment of defeat or the righteous superior attitude of victory. I know I need to work on this myself, do you? 

I learned about grace from two important women in my life, my mother who was a traditional southern woman on the surface, and made of steel underneath. My other mentor of grace was a woman I worked for and have known for many years. She lives in Kentucky now. She was also made of steel but had incredible grace toward those of lesser means and status. 

It is never too late to reach out to each other, despite our differences. Treat others with grace, though they may not want it.

Life can be grace filled for country painters.......

Florida Land Owners

 I must speak up on behalf of Florida’s rural land owners, farmers, and ranchers. I have known and been friends with Florida land owners for most of my life.

Yesterday I found myself in a meeting with several urbanites who belittled ranching, farming, and rural people. Many of them were vegans. I have nothing against vegans, to each his own. I am an omnivore personally.  

Many urban people are unaware that ranchers and rural people are excellent stewards of the remaining private lands in Florida. We are all that stands in the way of developers, who would be happy to pave the entire state.

Ranchers allow universities to come on to their land to study wildlife, water quality improvement, and do many studies for climate research and habitat improvement. Ranchers maintain valuable habitat and remove invasive plants that are not endemic to our natural world. They love their land passionately. These vast ranches are home to many wild creatures and trees, and are cared for by educated and intelligent families. We are multigenerational Florida natives. The next time you go to Publix, be grateful to land owners.

Life is wonderful for country painters....

Election Stress

The election draws near. Lots of early voting this year. I voted early too. I can feel the stress building now, more than in any other voting year I can remember. Everything is at stake for our leadership and future as a nation.

 I confess that it disturbs me greatly, when I read that some of my friends have voted against my candidates. I know they feel the same way about me. We both react initially by thinking how could they vote for that horrible person? We are deeply divided politically in this country. I feel a terrible dread that we may repeat 2016.

 If that is to be, then I must prepare myself to live with this political climate for another four years. So many of our natural resources are being destroyed and that would continue. We only have a few more years to save our planet, and we are going in the wrong direction. We are going in the wrong direction away from civility as well.

 I must continue to respect others though we deeply disagree on so many issues. Unlike some, I want to reach out to others who feel deeply that I am wrong. I won’t ever change my beliefs in decency, good moral values, conservation and civil rights for all, but cutting those who disagree with me off, will not bring solutions for our future. Friendships create shared values at least on some issues.

 

Politics are stressful for country painters…

Sustainability

 A college student wrote to me to ask questions for a sustainability project he is doing about the art industry. He had several questions and they were quite thoughtful. I love that he chose this topic for his project. 

One question was about sustainability and environmental impact of art galleries and artists’ studios and materials. What would I change about them? After thought, I  answered that packaging was the biggest issue for me. Everything is housed in plastic now. Canvases, hard boards, and other substrates are wrapped in plastic. All paints are now in plastic tubes, mediums are now in plastic bottles.

Why not go back to recyclable metal tubes and glass bottles, as they were once packaged? Art boards and canvases don’t need to be wrapped in plastic. I think plastic is far more damaging than the paint it holds. 

Another interesting question was about using recycled materials as art forms. He was familiar with recycled machine parts in sculpture. I pointed out the wide use and acceptance of recycled paper products like old book pages, maps, tea bags, and hand made paper, for two and three dimensional art. There are endless possibilities now for recycling materials and I often recycle frames. My collectors love knowing their paintings are in recycled frames. 

Sustainability is important for country artists.......